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Language Variation and Innovation in Teesside English

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Language Variation and Innovation in Teesside English Language Variation and Innovation in Teesside English Mari Carmen Llamas Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of English September 2001 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. Acknowledgements This study was funded by a White Rose Scholarship through the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. I gratefully acknowledge the support of the scholarship which allowed me the opportunity to undertake the present research. 1 would like to thank Clive Upton, at the University of Leeds, and John Widdowson, at the University of Sheffield, for acting as supervisors throughout the completion of this research. Particular thanks go to Paul Foulkes and Dominic Watt for constant support and advice. I also wish to thank Lesley Milroy and Judy Dyer for the interest they have shown in the work and the guidance they have provided in interpretation of the results of the study. My thanks also go to Mark J. Jones, Louise Mullany and Ghada Khattab for countless favours. Many other people are owed acknowledgement and thanks for their assistance throughout the course of the research: these include, Ann Williams, Paul Kerswill, Bridget Anderson, Jason Jones, Anne Fabricius, Paul Johnston, Peter Stockwell, Dave Britain and Jane Stuart-Smith. The assistance and encouragement provided by Geoff and Jenny Braddy, Val Magee and Jean Christie are also gratefully acknowledged. Finally, my thanks go to Sarah, Mark, Paddy, Rayees, Beck, Joe, and Helen. Abstract This thesis presents a study of socially-conditioned phonological variation in a hitherto unresearched urban variety of British English. The variety in question is that of Teesside, on the North East coast of England. A corpus of conversational and word-list data has been collected through the use of an innovative method of data elicitation designed and systematically trialled in the present study for a large-scale project on linguistic variation in Britain. The method combines the elicitation of comparable data on lexical variation with the collection of samples of informal speech on which phonological and, to some extent, grammatical analyses can be undertaken. The data for the present study are taken from a socially homogeneous group of 32 speakers who are divided by gender and grouped into four emically-defmed age cohorts to test for both generational differences suggestive of change in progress in the variety, and fine-grained age differentiations between young speakers. Consonantal variables are investigated and external, speaker-based factors are examined in relation to the levelling out of localised forms and the diffusion of innovatory forms into the variety. Furthermore, the study is an investigation of the interdependence of language and identity. Analyses of speakers’ perceptions of language variation, community identity and cohort identity within the community identity are combined with correlational analyses of the linguistic variables. A language ideology framework is invoked to interpret the linguistic trends uncovered. Findings reveal that the adoption or increased use of forms associated with varieties further south or further north of the locality in question does not appear to affect the local orientation of the speaker. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Theoretical and Contextual Background 2.0 Introduction 8 2.1 Linguistic variation 8 2.1.1 Place, community and identity 8 2.1.2 Gender 14 2.1.3 Age 21 2.1.4 The group and the individual 24 2.2 Linguistic change 28 2.2.1 Change within a dialect contact framework 29 2.3 Ideology and evaluation 32 2.3.1 Language ideology 32 2.3.2 Evaluation and salience 37 Chapter Three: The Design of the Teesside Study 3.0 Introduction 41 3.1 Sampling decisions 42 3.1.1 Location 43 3.1.1.1 Lack of previous studies 44 3.1.1.2 History of Middlesbrough 45 3.1.1.3 The geographical position of Middlesbrough 51 3.1.1.4 The shifting identity of Middlesbrough 53 3.1.1.5 The current economic and social climate 58 3.1.1.6 The investigation of the researcher’s native variety 60 3.1.2 Dimensions of variation under investigation 60 3.1.3 Design of the fieldwork sample 61 3.2 Method of data elicitation 66 3.2.1 Background to the design of the data elicitation technique 67 3.2.1.1 The proposed SuRE project: aims and difficulties 67 3.2.1.2 Previous studies and their applicability 73 3.2.2 The new method: the SuRE core 76 3.2.2.1 Overall aims 76 3.2.2.2 Sense Relation Network sheets: visual design and content design 78 3.2.2.3 Sense Relation Network sheets: technique of administration 83 3.2.2.4 Sense Relation Network sheets: trialling and revision 85 3.2.2.5 Sense Relation Network sheets: data yielded 86 3.2.2.6 Identity Questionnaire 88 3.2.3 The new method: additions for the Teesside study 91 3.2.3.1 Language Questionnaire 91 3.2.3.2 Teesside Identity Questionnaire 92 3.2.3.3 Affiliation Score Index 93 3.3 Fieldwork 94 Chapter Four: Results: Linguistic Data 4.0 Introduction 98 4.1 Pre-pausal and turn-final (t) 100 4.1.1 Variants under consideration 100 4.1.2 Geographical and social distribution of variants under consideration 101 4.1.3 Particulars of the data and areas of interest 104 4.1.3.1 Some discourse considerations 105 v 4.1.4 Overall distribution of variants of (t): conversational style 107 4.1.5 Pre-pausal (t), conversational style 109 4.1.5.1 Generational variation 109 4.1.5.2 Gender 110 4.1.5.3 Age and gender 111 4.1.6 Turn-final (t), conversational style 115 4.1.6.1 Generational variation 115 4.1.6.2 Gender 117 4.1.6.3 Age and gender 118 4.1.7 Pre-pausal (t): citation forms 112 4.1.8 More discourse considerations 124 4.1.9 Pre-pausal and turn-final (t): summary 127 (p t k) Glottalling and glottalisation 131 4.2.1 Variants under consideration 131 4.2.2 Geographical and social distribution of variants under consideration 132 4.2.3 Particulars of the data and areas of interest 134 4.2.4 Overall distribution of variants of (p), (t) and (k) 135 4.2.5 (p), conversational style 137 4.2.5.1 Generational variation 137 4.2.5.2 Gender 138 4.2.5.3 Age and gender 139 4.2.5.4 (p): citation forms 141 4.2.6 (t), conversational style 143 4.2.6.1 Generational variation 143 4.2.6.2 Gender 144 4.2.6.3 Age and gender 145 4.2.6.4 (t): citation forms 148 4.2.7 (k), conversational style 150 4.2.7.1 Generational variation 150 4.2.7.2 Gender 151 4.2.7.3 Age and gender 153 4.2.7.4 (k): citation forms 155 4.2.8 (p t k): summary 157 4.3 (r) 160 4.3.1 Variants of British English (r) 160 4.3.2 Geographical and social distribution of variants under consideration 161 4.3.3 Particulars of the data and areas of interest 164 4.3.4 Overall distribution of variants of (r) 165 4.3.5 (r), conversational style 166 4.3.5.1 Generational variation 166 4.3.5.2 Gender 167 4.3.5.3 Age and gender 168 4.3.6 (r): citation forms 170 4.3.7 (r): summary 172 4.4 (th)and(dh) 174 4.4.1 Variants of British English (th) and (dh) 174 4.4.2 Geographical and social distribution of variants under consideration 176 4.4.3 Particulars of the data and areas of interest 179 4.4.4 Overall distribution of variants of (th) and (dh) 181 4.4.5 (th), conversational style 181 4.4.5.1 Generational variation 181 4.4.5.2 Age and gender 182 4.4.6 (dh), conversational style 183 4.4.6.1 Generational variation 183 4.4.6.2 Age and gender 183 4.4.7 (th) and (dh): citation forms 184 4.4.8 (th) and (dh): summary 1 86 4.5 Summary of trends 188 Chapter Five: Results: Perceptions of Language and Place 5.0 Introduction 191 5.1 Language 5.1.1 Defining and delimiting MbE 192 5.1.1.1 Defining the accent 192 5.1.1.2 Identifying the accent 193 5.1.1.3 Delimiting the accent 195 5.1.2 Perceptions of variation in MbE 196 5.1.2.1 Perceived age variation 197 5.1.2.2 Perceived gender variation 199 5.1.3 Attitudes towards MbE 201 5.1.3.1 Evaluation of the accent 202 5.1.3.2 Perceived linguistic accommodation 203 5.1.3.3 Perceived misidentification of the accent 205 5.1.4 Summary of perceptions of language 208 5.2 Place 210 5.2.1 Defining and delimiting place 210 5.2.2 Attitudes towards place 214 5.2.3 Perceptions of image 217 5.2.4 Summary of perceptions of place 219 5.3 Strength of local allegiance 220 5.3.1 Summary of strength of local allegiance 223 Chapter Six: Synthesis and Discussion 6.0 Introduction 225 6.1 Ideology 225 6.1.1 Local orientation and linguistic variation 226 6.1.2 Evaluation of variants and linguistic variation 235 6.2 Linguistic variation as a stylistic resource 239 6.2.1 Age 240 6.2.2 Gender 244 6.2.3 Innovatory speaker groups 247 6.3 Summary 249 viii Chapter Seven: Conclusions 7 Conclusions 251 Appendix One: Biographical Data sheet 258 Appendix Two: Instruction sheet 259 Appendix Three: Three completed SRNs 260 Appendix Four: Identity Questionnaire 263 Appendix Five: Completed Language Questionnaire 264 Appendix Six: Affiliation Score Index 265 Appendix Seven: Word List 266 Appendix Eight: Localness charts 267 Appendix Nine: Variants of (th) and (dh) other than [0 ], [f] and [6], [v] 271 References 272 ix List of Figures 3.1 Geographical location of Middlesbrough 43 3.2 Census figures 1801 -1901 47 3.3 Census figures 1901 -1991 51 3.4 Location of Middlesbrough in the North of England 52 3.5 Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire 53 3.6 Middlesbrough in Teesside 54 3.7 County Cleveland 55 3.8 Four Local Authorities 56 3.9 U-curve 62 3.10 Variant being introduced 62 3.11 Variant being lost 63
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